Charlotte Ashton | Office manager, 88

Charlotte M. Wagenbaur Ashton, 88, of Lower Gwynedd, a retired office manager, died of leukemia Saturday at Artman Lutheran Home in Ambler.

Mrs. Ashton, a graduate of Olney High School, was a Bell Telephone operator and worked for an electrical company. During World War II, she was a secretary in the engineering department of Heintz Manufacturing in Olney, which was producing war materials. At Heintz she met her future husband, Frank Ashton. They married in 1954 and two years later moved to a home they built in Gwynedd Valley.

After their son was in junior high school, Mrs. Ashton began working part time for Renner Advertising Agency in Gwynedd Valley. She was office manager for the firm for 25 years until it closed in the early 1990s.

After her husband died in 1997, Mrs. Ashton worked evenings as a customer-service representative for Kohl's in Whitpain Township for a short time.

In her 70s, she was still swimming three times a week and taking numerous courses, including guitar and Spanish, said her son, Mark. She was a volunteer at Wissahickon Valley Library and was an active member of the Lansdale Women's Club and a women's investment club. She enjoyed socializing with her companion of 10 years, John W. Scheurer Jr. He died in 2008.

Mrs. Ashton is survived by her son.

The funeral will be at 11 a.m. tomorrow at the Episcopal Church of the Messiah, 1001 DeKalb Pike, Gwynedd. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Mrs. Ashton served on the church altar guild for 35 years.